Egmont buys out Verdane, becomes major owner of the Swedish ecommerce retailer Outnorth.

Egmont Publishing, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based publishing division of Danish media group Egmont, announced the acquisition of majority shares in Swedish e-commerce company Outnorth, specialized in the outdoor market. Outnorth sells equipment and apparel for outdoor activities and training.

The value of the transaction is EUR 21.4M ($22.7M) putting a value for the entire company at EUR 23.28 million. The deal is made with the other main shareholders - Verdane, which owned 55%, and the two founders, Stefan and Per Gustafsson, owning about 20% of the company. After this deal, Egmont will own more than 90% of the Outnorth.

Egmont had bought a part of the company for SEK 40M ($4.5M) in 2017. Outnorth is a result of a 2012 merger of two Swedish ecommerce retailers, Outnet and Get Out, financed by an investment round of SEK 24M ($3.7M) led by Verdane Capital.

Outnorth was initially founded in 2005, is led by CEO Lars Nykvist, and operates in both Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Germany. In 2017, the company had about SEK 430M ($53.5M) in sales.

Besides Outnorth, Egmont’s portfolio within e-commerce consists of Jollyroom, Bagaren och Kocken, Fjellsport, Med24 and Nicehair. According to CEO of Egmont Publishing, Torsten Bjerre Rasmussen, their 2020 goal is a turnover of EUR 500m in e-commerce.